It seems South Korean-based Samsung and LG are being urged to dump Android. The Motley Fool reports that the two companies have been asked by the government of South Korea to ditch Android in favor of joining with a “coalition of other South Korean companies” building their own mobile operating system.
In the long term, we cannot go on like this by solely relying on Google.Deputy Commerce MinisterSouth Korean GovernmentIt seems the South Korean government is threatened by Google’s recent purchase of Motorola Mobility, and fears Google will focus their efforts on their internal hardware development operations and leave companies such as Samsung and LG out in the cold.
Whether or not LG and Samsung ditch Android in favor of a Korean-developed OS remains to be seen. Both companies have publicly welcomed and applauded Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility, indicating that they are not too worried about what the acquisition will mean for their future business.
It will be interesting to see if this push by the South Korean government amounts to anything. However, since Android has such a strong hold on the global smartphone OS market and since Samsung and LG appear to be all-in on Android, we don’t think these companies will be quick to ditch Android. Samsung in particular owes a lot of its recent successes to Android smartphones and tablets. It would certainly be difficult for them to justify ditching Android as a viable business decision.
That being said, Samsung already kind of has its own homegrown operating system with Bada OS, and DigiTimes has rumored recently that Samsung is in talks with HP to purchase the recently doomed webOS.
As always, we’re interested to hear your take on this issue. Is the South Korean government overreacting to the Google-Motorola deal? Do you think Samsung and LG will heed the government’s call to ditch Android? Weigh in by dropping a comment below.
Via: PC Advisor
Source: The Motley Fool
